Saturday 12 April 2014

Film Review: The Raid

Genre:  Action Crime Martial Art Thriller

Cert: (R-rated) 18 cert

Director: Gareth Evans (as Gareth Huw Evans)

Writer: Gareth Evans

Starring: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim,Donny Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian, Pierre Gruno,  Ray Sahetapy, Tegar Satrya, Iang Darmawan, Eka 'Piranha' Rahmadia, Verdi Solaiman, 

Running time: 101 min 

Parents advised to read before viewing film as some scene may contain scenes unsuitable for younger viewers.

Sex & Nudity: A man kisses a pregnant woman's clothed stomach and then her forehead.
We see a portion of a man's bare back and chest as he works out shirtless. 

Violence & Gore: A man removes a hidden machete from a table and chops off a police officer's head; the actual beheading is not shown.
We see five men kneeling on the ground with duct tape covering their mouths (most of them appear to have bloody and broken noses), and another man approaches them from behind and shoots four of them point-blank in the head (we see a spray of blood and brain matter from the wounds); when he approaches the fifth man, his gun jams and he smashes the crying, gagged man (his nose is bloody and there is blood on his shirt) in the head with a hammer (just offscreen).
Police officers corner a boy at the end of a hallway, one of the officers shouts at the boy, telling him not to move, the boy runs through a door, an officer fires a shot and in slow-motion we watch the bullet rip through a door and hit the boy in the throat while another boy watches in horror and blood sprays from the dying boy's neck. The image is out of focus however, so not much is seen.
A police officer from within an apartment building looks out the window and a sniper shoots him through the goggles, hitting him in the eye (blood fills the goggles and pours over his face and he drops to the ground, dead).
A police officer shoots another police officer point-blank in the face and we see the spray of blood from the gunshot wound.
A man tries to attack a police officer, the officer grabs the gun from the man shoving him against a wall and shooting him in the neck (blood sprays against the wall).
During an extended and violent fight we see a man hitting another man in the stomach and torso until another man joins to help the injured man fight the attacker; they kick and punch one another, throw each other against walls and the floor, one man stabs another man in the neck with a broken light bulb (we see blood pulse from the wound), they continue to fight until one man collapses to the ground, covered in blood, and another man twists the light bulb in the other man's throat and he collapses to the ground with blood gurgling from the wound as the two other men kick him in the torso repeatedly.
During an extended fight scene we see three police officers storm into a room filled with men making drugs: the officers kick, punch and body-slam the men, one of the officers and one of the men stand on a table and flip each other to the ground, the officers spin the men into a wall, men are shown using chains as weapons, a police officer kicks a man in the face, and an officer throws a knife into the back of a man who is holding another officer at knife point (the officer is dropped to safety); after the battle, the police officers kill all the men in the room and many bodies are seen spread across the room.
During an extended and violent fight between a police officer and a man who threatens to kill the officer with his "bare hands," they kick, punch and tackle one another, throw each other to the ground and against walls, and we hear the snap of bones as they slam one another; we see blood pouring from mouths and noses, and one man grabs the other and snaps his neck, dropping his dead body to the ground and then drags the body behind him (we see a trail of blood on the ground).
During a slow-motion onslaught we see a police officer propping up and carrying an injured police officer; many men attack the two police officers, the first officer fights the men as they attack him, and they stab one another with machetes and knives and kick and punch each other in the head, neck and chest; we see a man stabbed in the head, another is stabbed in the neck and a third man is kicked in the arm and neck. Lots of blood shown.
Several men open fire on six police officers: three of the officers are shot and we see their bodies covered in blood and twisting from the impact of the machine gun bullets while the remaining officers fire back and we see an extended gun fight.
Two snipers shoot two police officers from an adjacent apartment building; one of the injured officers screams in pain while one of the snipers instructs the other to allow the man to keep screaming.
Two men are seen sitting in a van, one of the men is shot in the neck by an unseen sniper (blood gurgles from the wound as the man drops to the ground), three men shoot the passenger and driver, the passenger's body shakes from the impact of numerous bullets, blood fills the van and we see blood spray on the van window.
A police officer approaches an open window, bullets are fired through the window, the officer is struck multiple times, including in the neck and blood pours from the wound as he drops to the ground; a second police officer drags the man to safety where he dies seconds later.
Three men are seen in an elevator: the man in the middle stabs one of the men, flips the other man against the wall of the elevator and stabs him in the neck (we see blood spray from both men).
A police officer grabs a gun from a man, shoots the man in the face, shoots two more people and kicks down a door and rushes into the room to zip-tie a man's hands behind his back.
A police officer holds a man hostage at gunpoint, the gun is pointed to the man's temple, the officer pushes away his hostage and shoots him in the head, and the officer then turns the gun on himself but when he tries to pull the trigger, it jams.
As a police officer stands over a hole in the floor of an apartment, unseen men in the apartment under the officer open fire and he is struck in the abdomen and ear; the officer drops to the ground, writhing in pain and we see him being dragged to safety by another officer (we see that a portion of his ear is ripped off, blood is covering his clothing and he screams in pain).
A man covered in blood runs from a room, he screams to a male police officer, "They're going to kill me!" the officer approaches him, the man shoots the officer twice and we see blood spray coming from his wounds as he hits the ground.
A police officer stabs a man in the neck, and drags another man and stabs him in the throat with a piece of broken wood; the officer fights with two more men, stabbing one in the cheek and kicking the second to the ground when another man enters the room and they wrestle and punch one another until one man throws the another out of a window, the police officer throws himself and a man from the 8th story window, he holds onto the man, using his body as a cushion when he hits a vented grate with a thud, and the officer rolls off the dead man's body and stumbles into a room, unharmed.
A police officer is cornered by four men, the officer attacks and defeats the four men with kicking and punching; we see one of the attackers being stabbed in the face and the final attacker is kicked to the ground.
A police officer interrupts several men torturing a man (the man's hands are tied to the ceiling, and he is partially dangling), and the officer attacks one of the men, flipping him over a stairwell to the ground below, and he flips another man over, folding him backwards over the railing (we hear a snapping sound).
A man stabs another man in the hand and we see blood coming from the wound, with the knife still stuck in his hand.
An unseen police officer garrotes a man and we hear him gag and see his body slump to the ground, dead.
A police officer fires repeatedly at a man and the man falls backwards off a stairwell.
Several men walk down a hallway filled with dead bodies; one of the men uses a machete to stab a dying man in the head.
An injured police officer is placed on a sofa as a second officer attempts to dislodge a bullet in the injured officer's stomach (we see blood cover the man's torso and a brown ooze comes from the bullet wound as the other police officer digs around for a bullet); the injured police officer screams in pain.
A police officer hides under a corpse as he watches men pile up several dead officers' bodies.
We see men dragging the dead bodies of two police officers and a trail of blood is visible behind them as they place them on a pile of other dead officers.
A police officer wakes up from being knocked unconscious by an explosion and we see two other officers on the ground, dead.
Several men enter an apartment, they attempt to flip over a mattress that a sick woman is sitting on and they pick up things in the apartment and smash them; one man stabs a machete through a false wall repeatedly and we see two police officers hiding behind the false wall (one of the officer's cheeks is cut with the machete as it stabs through the wall); a man threatens a man and a woman in the apartment, including telling the man, "I'll bleed you," before leaving.
Several unseen men approach an apartment where five police officers hide with the door barricaded by furniture (we see shots fired through the barricade, no one is injured).
Several police officers enter a room, one of them slams a man to the ground and zip-ties his hands behind his back.
A police officer tackles a man, zip-tying his hands behind his back.
A police officer slams open a door knocking a man to the ground as five other officers storm into the room and one of the officers zip-ties the man's hands behind his back.
A police officer slams a man against a wall, putting his arm to the man's neck and threatening him when a second officer pulls the first officer away from the man.
Three police officers tackle a boy to the ground as he attempts to run away.
A police officer slams another police officer against a wall, snapping him out of a daze.
A police officer throws another officer against a wall and shouts at him.
Two police officers push a refrigerator with a large natural gas tank inside it, several unseen men spray the refrigerator with bullets causing it to explode and we see it thrown, in flames, through a hallway.
A police officer fires many gunshots into the floor of an apartment, the floor gives way beneath his feet, and the police officer drops to the apartment below and he is unharmed.
A police officer carrying a dying officer (we see the man covered in blood) pounds on an apartment door, begging the man behind the door to open it, saying that they will die if the man does not allow them into his apartment.
A police officer instructs a van filled with police officers that they are "hunting" for a man and he must be "taken down," and the officer further explains that a group of men will "put bullets in you."
A man warns a police officer that other police officers had been lead into an office as a set-up.
A police officer tells another officer that all the other officers (15+) that had come with them had been killed.
A police officer tells two other officers that a fellow officer had been killed and his body "dragged across the floor like an animal."
A man tells another man that his henchmen are "spread all over the walls."
A police officer tells another officer that people will "burn them" from inside an apartment building.
A police officer warns another officer that he will be killed if he remains in a building in an attempt to kill a drug lord.
A man tells a group of 20 police officers that his wife is ill and that he is getting her medicine; we later see the woman sitting in bed and she appears ill.
20 police officers slowly approach a building with their guns drawn.
A man punches a punching bag during a workout and we hear him grunting.
Two men act disgusted when they see a man with feces on his pants. 


Profanity:  About 61 F-words and its derivatives, 11 scatological terms, 5 anatomical terms, 5 mild obscenities, 1 religious profanity and 1 religious exclamation.
Name-calling (maniac, mad dog, cockroaches, quaky, old, bone-headed, stubborn and stupid.) 

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking: We see a room filled with men who appear to be manufacturing drugs (presumably meth.)
We see men and women smoking what is implied to be heroin.
A man and a woman appear to be using drugs when they are interrupted by another man walking into the room.
A man instructs a group of men to take dead men's "stash" (implied to be drugs).
Throughout the film, we see different men smoking cigarettes.

Frightening/Intense Scenes:  The entire film is basically one extended battle, with guns and knives, as well as hammers, billy clubs, machetes, and martial arts.
There's extensive blood.
Many dead bodies.
Many other painful moments of bashing and smashing.Almost all of the movie is bloody, violent and filled with intense action scenes as said in a tagline "1 Minute Of Romance. 99 Minutes Of Non-Stop Carnage."
 

Story: In Jakarta, Indonesia, Lieutenant Wahyu organizes the invasion of an apartment building that is the safe house of the powerful and cruel drug lord Tama and his gang. The SWAT team breaks in the building but one lookout sees and warns the gangsters and the police force is trapped on the seventh floor. They learn that Lt. Wahyu has not informed his superiors about the operation. Now the police officers have to fight with limited ammunition against the armed and dangerous gangsters.

Likes : I've been wanting to see this film for a while ive been putting it off because i don't like subtitled film that much but i manged to see this film in English dubbed, although the speaking kind of made them look dumb you can kind of forgive that because the action in this film is off the charts.
If you looking for an all out action martial art blood fight scene's this is one to watch, the fight scene choreography is beautiful done as you see ever punch, kick, blade stab & neck breaking in this film which make for a believable action film some scene even i cringe at because it was so brutal.
The director Gareth Evans has made what i could say as a master piece of a action film, starts off pretty much normal nothing really happen until is seriously kick in its like a sh*it storm of a blood thirst film that get kicked in to hype drive.Some of these martial arts are brilliant in showing some amazing martial art hand to hand ,weapon to weapon combat, which lead to a two on one final showdown with one of the most brutal fight scene ive ever seen in a film.
This is a roller-coaster of 101 min of intense bloody combat & brutal fight scene your ever get in a film this is a film i highly recommend you see if you have already if you love the fighting style action movie's,because this one is highly entertaining & keep you glued to the screen, you wont be disappointed.

Dislikes : The Raid is not without flaws. The acting, the dialogs, the CGI, the twist - you know - those usual unconvincing stuff which you can find even in some blockbuster martial arts/action movies, can be improved. But overall it is a superb action movie so I understand the high-praised comments from those film festivals.

Overall : Fast brutal combat, brilliant choreography, best action film your see, a must to watch.

Rating: 5 out of 5 for entertainment / 10 out of 10 for combat scene/ choreography




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